


Black Omega

by Lokisgame



Series: To have and to hold [35]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 09:32:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11228196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokisgame/pseuds/Lokisgame
Summary: He wasn’t ready. He needed time, he needed a lifetime of time.





	Black Omega

Time.  
He wasn’t ready. He needed time, he needed a lifetime of time.  
The minutes they lost on a back road in Oregon were nothing compared to hours they lost between airports, now he needed those hours back. Every minute he drifted off into his own thoughts when she sat next to him, safe and taken for granted.  
Now his mind filled with questions he never asked her, things that popped into his mind and vanished, when he was distracted by bright lights in the faraway sky. All the times he looked up when he should be looking down, at her, with her, into her. This human being that felt like a perfect opposite, complementary puzzle piece that made them the landscape of his life these days.  
It was a litany of mundane questions, he did not know or remember the answers to. Those were the passwords to her inner circle, to which he sneaked into behind a veil of work and sense of loyalty.  
They spent past four years together, but still he knew very little about her. How she likes her bacon, what color of Jell-O she liked before she’d come to hate it. The look on her face biting into a crispy apple, or the pout of her mouth when the ice cream was gone too fast. All the times he thought _‘Scully would love that’_ but couldn’t just offer because it wasn’t something you did with your partner. Their closeness was not a product of give and take, but responsibility for something you saved.  
There was no chance of erasing the pain and sorrow he brought upon her, but if he could only balance them with moments of joy, and gratitude for being alive and still together. As this things usually happen, he didn’t know what he had until faced with a vision of life without her. The first and probably last person he accepted, and who understood, that sometimes to care means to shoot him point blank, to tell him he’s crazy and then prove it to him in minute detail.  
He can hear her breathe, labored breaths that wheeze past the cancerous mass behind the bridge of her nose. Each one checked, it's passport stamped, the borders open, but for how long?  
You’re dying Scully.  
_You’re wrong, I’m still fighting._  
Prove it. Prove me wrong and live, because if you die, there’ll be no point in living for me.  
_Forgive me, I thought we had more time._

The way Scully figured it, the proximity or alien space crafts, their engines or camouflage maybe, created distortion in magnetic fields, electric fields and all kinds of other wave or particle related phenomena. The radio freaked out, the telephones died, computer operated fuel injectors in cars choked the engines making them stop. If that was true, the kinetic energy stored in the spring mechanism of a wind-up watch, shouldn't be affected. She couldn't possibly test this theory herself, but the assumption seemed and sounded plausible and thus could be used as a solid base for explanation, if one was required.  
She bought the watch, because of science.  
The truth however was much more simple, though she’d lie and go to hell for it, if asked. Now that she wasn't dying, she could admit to herself (and only herself) that she cherished every moment she could spend with him, her mother and every other person she might meet, ever. He saved her, he gave her her life back, and she didn't want to lose even a second of that time to invaders who tried to take over their lives.  
This was their time.

"Scully, I" Mulder stuttered, for once in her life she left him speechless "I can't accept this, it's too much."  
"It's not” she smiled, watching his mouth close and looking down at the watch resting in a simple, elegant black box in his hands.  
“It’s beautiful” he made a move and she took the box from him, so that he could take the one he was wearing off, and try the new one on.  
“Read the back”  
He turned over the watch and noticed the inscription.  
_'The universal invariant, S'_  
Mulder smiled and looked into her eyes “In most zip-codes at least”  
The band felt new and familiar at the same time, the weight around his left wrist in perfect balance, forgotten while there, remembered when needed. This was his watch, the way he’d chose it, instinctive fit.  
“Perfect” he glanced at the clock on the wall, at the watch, saw them in sync and brought it to his ear, then hers. A quiet _tick tick tick_ of used up seconds dropped from future into past. She took his hand and gripped the crown on the side, turning it a couple times.  
“Just remember to wind it once in a while” he nodded, keeping her hand in his for a moment longer, bringing it to his lips and kissing her knuckles, his eyes soft, free of sorrow and fear of tomorrow.  
“Thank you”  
“Happy birthday” She stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. This moment was theirs, but like every moment it too did pass. Scully took a step back and looked around the office “So, what are you working on?”  
“Nothing, as far as you are concerned, you should rest”  
“Mulder, I might not be fit for active duty yet, but I can think, so tell me, I’m going stir crazy at home from this doing nothing but healing thing”  
“Okay, but sit down, I’ll get you some coffee” he reached into his desk drawer and found a bar of fine Swiss chocolate.  
“A party!” She giggled and reached for the open file he was looking through before she came in.

The angle and light reflecting of sapphire crystal hid the hands of the watch and she gave in to the illusion of timelessness, reveling in the now and tentatively glimpsing toward the future.  
Tomorrow morning she'll see him wind the mechanism inside the watch, put it on, and mark the start of the first day of the rest of their lives. But for now he's warm beneath her cheek, fingers tracing her side, like his breath, grow slow, winding down. She shifts and pulls on the light switch, keeping time by his heartbeat for the rest of the night. 

The night they had a fight, the night she left him without a word, the night he came after her and with tears in his eyes, six of them anger, half a dozen of fear, when their arms closed around each other, clothes were ripped and they barely made it to bed, sorely tempted to crash on the couch where they settled their newest differences, she begged forgiveness, he begged her patience.  
_Can’t lose you..._ won’t lose me... _need you..._ you have me... _I’m yours..._ take me... _I’m sorry..._ I’m sorry... _I was terrified..._ we’re here... _you’re safe..._ we’re safe...  
The promises were whispered between kisses and hands searching and finding the planes of warm flesh. They slept entwined, as if one inch of distance left chance of something new coming between them. With their hands entwined, she could hear the seconds tick by on the watch still around his wrist.  
She laid curled up in bed, which was now as his as it was hers. The nights they shared consisted of hours of peace and security like they never knew existed. To know, the person she trusted with her life, and the person the life of which was dearest to her, was here, in her arms and safe. Clinging and holding in equal parts, Mulder finally sleept peacefully, protecting and being protected by the one person that really mattered.  
_This woman…_ this man… _means everything…_ to me… _forever._  
The time came to own it. Take the loyalty, fidelity, friendship, trust, attraction, longing, concern and care, and call it what it was, love. Profound, bone deep, honest to God, love. 

 

He left in a hurry; every last moment devoted to her, both of them uncertain of this latest step towards change. None of them suspected the nature of it, the balance; he left her with a miracle, giving himself up instead. What a terrible price to pay.  
Black leather band of the watch remembered the shape of his hand, circumference of his wrist arching over the bedside table. Drawing on the baby’s strength to keep the grief at bay, she forced her body to move and reached for the watch. _Silence._ Sudden panic overwhelmed her.  
The hands were dead. Was that it? Was it a sign? Was their time up? A choked sob escaped her lungs.  
_Breathe Scully, breathe._ She heard his voice in her head, like the day he saved her from an icy tomb the aliens made for her. She breathed in and blinded by tears, found the crown on the side and turned it, once, twice, again, and again until the sound of the watch waking up to life jump-started her heart.  
_Tick tick tick_  
The soft pitter-patter filled her ears. Time is the universal invariant, and theirs wasn’t over yet. She will find him, no matter how long it might take.

He heard her bustle around kitchen as he explored what else had changed while he was gone. The bed was made, fresh sheets. Shirts ironed in the closet, next to suits on hangers and shoes in military order, by rank and station from dress officers to running privates.  
He closed the door and a flash of light caught his eye, landing on the bedside table, two steps to his side.  
_Tick tick tick_  
He turned the watch in his hands and read.  
_'The universal invariant, S'_  
He pulled the band through its clasp, walking back to the kitchen and took her by surprise, pulling her into his arms. Her body felt new and different, but her heartbeat felt the same as he kissed her.  
_Tick tick tick_ like the watch on his wrist, like the time that passed made no difference.


End file.
